Crucible
by Sir Perfluous
Summary: Loyalties and faith are tested when an investigation of dirty cops hits close to home for the Rangers of SPD. As an old secret is revealed, the Rangers will have to walk the fine line between their desires for justice and revenge.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:  
Time for another writing experiment and brief change of pace to a slightly more serious crime drama. Credit also goes to the great cop show Blue Bloods for some of the inspiration. With that said...**

 **I do not own Power Rangers, its characters, or any of its related intellectual property. I'm just a humble fan trying his best to salute the show.**

* * *

 _ **New Tech City: Industrial District**_  
 _ **19:45 hours**_

Sergio Torres nervously fidgeted as he glanced out the high windows of the old abandoned warehouse. The sky was already turning dark as night began to fall over New Tech City and Sergio pulled his coat a little tighter to ward off the cool air. Nearby, a group of his "fellow associates" were busy paying more attention to the deal about to go down at the makeshift table that had been set up. Perched atop a crate full of illegal weapons sat his well dressed boss Roderick Vale, who calmly took another drag on his cigarette. Dim lights flickered from a few portable lanterns as another group of tough looking people quietly made their way into the dingy warehouse. No doubt this was the street gang they were waiting for. Each wore assorted articles of leather clothing and a red bandana on their head marking them as members of the Red Moons.

Roderick looked up slowly with a grin as he tossed his cigarette and rose to meet the leader of the gang, a scarred young man by the name of Vincent Pierce. "You made it Vinny. Right on time."

"We're both in a hurry." Vincent growled tersely, "Let's just get this deal over with Rod."

Rod eyed his customer and his hired muscle for a moment, "Did you bring the money?"

Vincent gave a quick nod to one of his men, who approached with a large briefcase. Putting it on the table, he opened it to reveal large stacks of money inside. "2.5 million, like we agreed."

Rod nodded and ambled over to the crate before slowly pulling out a small laser rifle. Vinny's men immediately reached for their weapons, but their boss gestured for them to stand down.

"Your men have gotten really twitchy Vin." Rod laughed holding the gun away and offering it to the leader of the Red Moon gang.

"Can't be too careful these days." Vinny replied looking the gun over, "SPD's been cracking down on the rivals recently. These are the guns we agreed on?"

Rod nodded, "It wasn't easy, but that's the largest cache of Troobian weapons I was able to smuggle in recently. Should be enough firepower to keep the other gangs away."

Sergio's attention on the illegal arms deal was suddenly torn away as he heard several footsteps quickly echoing in the dark warehouse. Before he knew it, a flash grenade went off nearby and Sergio stumbled over as the garage door flew open and several masked men in grey colored tactical gear burst in with energy rifles.

"SPD! Drop your weapons and put your hands up!"

The disoriented criminals stumbled to their knees and several of them put their hands up in surrender. Amid the confusion, Sergio crawled into the shadows and hid behind an old indoor dumpster, trying to slow his racing heart. What was going on here? SPD wasn't planning a sting tonight. He of all people would have known. He was their informant!

"Well well, Pierce and Vale. I didn't think we'd actually be seeing you two in person tonight." one of the masked SPD officers laughed triumphantly holding them at rifle point.

"You cops think you're so tough." Vinny spat defiantly, "Well guess what? I ain't talkin."

"That's right," Rod chuckled, "I've only got one word for you... lawyer."

"Shut up!" the officer growled, giving Rod a vicious kick in the side. "We're not here to listen to you lowlifes lie through your teeth."

"What the hell?" Vinny shouted angrily, "You're cops! You can't do that!"

The officer whirled around on Vinny and put the laser rifle to the gang leader's nose, "I'm the guy with the gun pointed at your mug right now dirt bag. I can do whatever I want."

Nearby, two other SPD officers secured the weapons and money before one checked his wrist watch. "We're a minute ahead of schedule boss."

"Good," the leader of the officers replied thumbing off the safety of his weapon. "More time to make this look like an accident."

Sergio curled into his dark hiding spot in terror as he heard a barrage of automatic laser rifles being fired, followed by a few muffled cries of the dying criminals. He waited for several tense minutes after he heard the masked SPD officers gather their things and hurry away from the warehouse with the loot. As nervous sweat continued to pour down his brow, he reached for his communicator and dialed the direct line. "Hello? This is Sergio Torres. Route me to SPD headquarters. This is an emergency!"

* * *

 _ **New Tech City: Market District**_  
 _ **09:30 hours**_

"After him!" Schuyler Tate cried as the blue skinned alien drug dealer took off into the crowded marketplace district. Friday morning shoppers looked up in surprise and stepped aside quickly as they saw four SPD officers in colored uniforms take off running. As they dashed after the suspect, Sky gave a quick hand signal and the 4 officers split up. While the dealer wove through the crowd, he skidded to a halt when he ran face to face with a brunette female officer dressed in yellow. Turning to dart left, he froze as he was met with an identical officer, and then another copy, cutting him off to the right. "Nowhere to go buddy." Officer Elizabeth "Z" Delgado smiled putting her hands on her hips.

To her surprise, the suspect turned around and ran back the way he came, prompting Z to quip, "Except that way."

Backtracking through an alley, the dealer slipped into another crowd milling about a smaller plaza. However, when he looked up, he spotted an SPD officer in a blue uniform from a nearby 2nd story terrace waving his hand about with rippling energy, as if scanning the area. Reaching for his comm, Officer Bridge Carson called out, "I have a visual on the perp! He's headed westbound from the Coventry Lane plaza! All units respond!"

As the exhausted alien drug dealer took off running again, he came to a thicker crowd of people and tried shoving through them. Upon shoving several startled shoppers aside, the blue skinned alien ran headfirst into a solid force field of energy and tumbled backwards into a heap. Standing before him with a stern look and a hand on his pistol was an SPD officer in red, Schuyler "Sky" Tate.

Before the dealer knew it, he felt a cold metallic hand grab him from behind the scruff of his neck and roll him over into a restraining position. To his shock it was the strong iron hand of an officer wearing pink. With her knee upon the alien's back, Officer Sydney Drew slapped a pair of handcuffs on him and brushed aside a loose strand of her golden hair. "Elphias Kino, you're under arrest for smuggling, illegal possession of drugs, and resisting arrest."

"Nice collar Syd." Sky grinned to his teammate as he helped to hoist the stunned criminal to his feet.

"Thanks!" she replied brightly putting away a piece of iron in her pocket, "But I still had a little help from the rest of you."

As she said that, the two were joined by Bridge and Z along with a few more SPD patrolmen. "You're darn right we're not letting you hog all the credit for this arrest." Z smiled while Sky and Bridge exchanged a victorious fist bump. "Maybe if I work my tail off and make a few more collars, Cruger will bump me up to a green uniform."

"Now Z, let's not get ahead of ourselves." Bridge laughed, "I still think I looked best in that color." Glancing to Sky, he quickly added, "Err... not that blue is a bad look either.

"Bridge is right Z," Syd chimed in and waggled her fingers, "If you did put on the green, the next thing you know, you might start to get hankerings for some buttery toast."

Z simply rolled her eyes and smiled at Sydney's gentle teasing.

"Listen, you guys can eat all the buttery toast you want later, but first we've got to report back to Cruger for a full debriefing." Sky interjected dutifully as he handed the alien drug dealer over to the other patrol officers.

"Aww, Sky! Do we really have to?" Syd groaned with a childish pout.

Sky gave his petite friend an expectant look and gently turned her around by the shoulders toward their car. "Start marching Officer Drew."

Turning to Z, Bridge gave a shrug and began walking too, "He had me at toast."

"Well, at least we know that wearing red hasn't changed Sky one bit." Z sighed to herself as the four Rangers began walking back to their patrol car.

* * *

 _ **SPD Headquaters**_  
 _ **11:45 hours**_

Later that morning at SPD headquarters, the Rangers stood assembled at rigid attention while they gave their report of the morning's arrest to Commander Anubis Cruger.

The dog faced commander sat behind his desk and gave a satisfied nod, "Good work on the clean arrest Rangers. We've been trying to catch that dealer for some time now, but he'd always slipped past the local patrols. I trust you'll prepare an official written report of the incident?"

"I'll take care of it by tomorrow, sir." Sky volunteered, deciding to be a good leader and spare his teammates the tedious task of extra paperwork.

Before the other three Rangers could nod their thanks to him, Cruger reached into his side drawer and put a file on his desk. "I'd rather you hold off on the report for now Tate. I've got a matter that requires B Squad's immediate attention."

The Rangers exchanged questioning looks as Commander Cruger continued, "Last night, an SPD informant reported that an illegal weapons deal between a smuggler and gang boss was raided. The ones who conducted the raid identified themselves as SPD officers."

"What's so strange about that, sir?" Z asked curiously, "We do sting operations like that all the time."

"Except this raid was not authorized," Cruger answered with a grave look, "The men who posed as the SPD officers made off with over 2 million credits in cash as well as several crates of smuggled Troobian weapons."

"What about the criminals conducting the deal, sir?" Bridge interjected hopefully. "Did they recognize anyone, or have any information?"

The Commander shook his head, "I'm afraid they won't be talking Bridge. They were all killed. But that's where B Squad comes in. I want you to investigate the site for clues and get to the bottom of this case. The last thing we need is for violent crimes to be committed by people wearing our uniforms."

The four gave a crisp salute as Commander Cruger rose slowly. "Before I dismiss you, there is one other thing. Officers Tate, Carson, and Drew… the three of you are familiar with Detective Marcus Bailey?"

The three looked to each other and nodded tentatively as Z hesitantly asked, "Umm, excuse the new girl's ignorance but, who is that?"

"Marcus was a friend of ours who was also in our Academy's graduating class." Sky answered. "He was a good guy, and an even better cadet."

"Bailey was really smart too." Bridge chimed in. "He'd sometimes help me study for exams, and was always one of the highest scoring test takers."

"I totally had a crush on him when we entered the Academy." Syd added, making her two male teammates turn and stare at her.

"What?" Syd huffed indignantly, "I did! Besides, I know he's already married now."

"So... if he was such a great cadet, why didn't he become a Ranger?" Z asked curiously.

Sky simply shrugged, "He didn't want to. He was happier working investigations with the local force and opted to become a detective instead."

At this, Cruger cleared his throat and silenced the Rangers, "Officers, I'm afraid I have some bad news to report. Your friend Detective Bailey was critically injured yesterday and is currently in the hospital. Presumably, he was working undercover on an unrelated case and took several blaster shots by an attacker."

The three Rangers gasped and stood dumbfounded for a long moment before Syd found her voice, "Can we go to see him Commander?"

Cruger nodded somberly and let out a sigh, "Of course. His wife should already be there staying with him."

Sky frowned in thought, "Sir, with permission, I'd like to request that we take on the case Detective Bailey was working and do it on the side. The three of us owe it to Marcus and maybe we can find out who did this to his him too."

"Sky is right." Bridge nodded, "Is it possible Marcus would be able to ID his shooter?"

Cruger frowned and shook his head, "I'm afraid Detective Bailey won't be much good to you right now. I was told he's in a coma."

The Rangers stopped a moment before giving crestfallen nods. As they did, Commander Cruger turned his back to look out the office window. "As for the request to take on Detective Bailey's case… permission granted."

"Thank you sir." Sky said as the Rangers saluted again and filed out of the command room. As they walked down the busy main corridor toward the mess hall for lunch, Z turned to see the worried look on her three teammates' faces, "Hey, I'm really sorry about what happened to your friend. If there's any way I can help… maybe I could get started on the murdered arms dealer case?"

"Thanks Z." Sky nodded, as they entered the mess hall. Before getting in line for food, he stopped a moment to regroup his team, while trying to show a bit of stoic leadership. "Ok, after lunch we split up and get back to work. Bridge, you go with Z and look over that crime scene to see what you two can find. Syd and I will go to Marcus's commanding officer and recover all the records of the case he was working."

Bridge and Syd reluctantly nodded and got back into the lunch line, the euphoria from their arrest that morning, now darkened by hints of concern and melancholy for their old classmate. As Z gave the Red Ranger an encouraging pat on the shoulder and joined the others, Sky couldn't help but wonder for a moment what his father would have done at a time like this. For the time being, it looked as if he was going to need all the old police wisdom and motivating words he could get against these new shadowy threats to the city, and to SPD itself.

* * *

 **To Be Continued...**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Industrial District: Warehouse Crime Scene**_  
 _ **14:00 hours**_

Bright afternoon sunlight streamed in through the dirty glass windows of the old warehouse where a criminal massacre had taken place the night before. As Bridge and Z crossed the police tape to survey the scene, they saw several crime scene investigators and members of the forensics unit already at work. Lying spread out along the ground were a number of figures with tarp draped over them… presumably the bodies of the slain criminals. As they approached, the two Rangers were met by a female forensics officer with long black hair as well as a young Hispanic looking man in plain clothes.

"Officers Carson and Delgado, it's been too long. I was beginning to miss you." The forensics officer laughed extending her hand.

"No offense Melissa, but we try to keep it that way." Z smiled greeting her friend and looking around. "This one looks like a doozy."

Melissa Fisher shrugged, "We've been at this all morning, but I don't mind a little overtime pay either." Gesturing to the young plain clothes man beside her, she added, "Meet the guy who called it in. SPD's informant, Sergio Torres."

Sergio gave a hesitant nod and shook hands with Bridge and Z before they began to examine the scene. As they did, Sergio recounted to them what had happened the night before.

"Looks like you got pretty lucky Mr. Torres." Z remarked peeking under the tarp of some of the slain criminals. She wrinkled her nose and glanced away from the gruesome sight. "These guys got messed up pretty bad."

"High grade energy weapons by the looks of it." Melissa added helpfully.

"Are we talking about smuggled Troobian weapons, or guns from Earth?" Bridge asked, glancing at several deep scorch marks along the nearby walls and ground.

Officer Fisher smirked, "That's where it gets interesting. Several of the stray shots and secondary wounds to the victims look to be like they were inflicted by Troobian weapons. But the majority of shots that killed the gangsters at close range look like Earth based laser rifles."

Z scratched her chin, "So the shooters probably fired some of the Troobian weapons around afterwards making this look more like a botched arms sale."

"It's possible," Melissa conceded, "but forensics will still need some time on that."

Z furrowed her brow a moment and shook her head. "In a way, it's too bad we've gotta bring these killers in. Seems like they did SPD a favor by wiping out some of the dangerous street scum for us."

Melissa narrowed her eyes and examined the scene before turning to Z, "You might not be aware, but in the past year, my team has covered a number of similar incidents to this… except not to this degree. There have been several minor groups of drug traffickers getting plugged."

Bridge frowned and walked a circle around the scene, waving his hand to get a psychic feel for the area, "Sergio, how many men did you say burst in again?

Sergio grimaced apologetically, "I'm sorry Officer, but it was hard to tell when I got hit by the flash grenade. Three, maybe four of them?"

"Three?" Z exclaimed in disbelief. "You mean to tell me only three or four shooters took out around 15 men at once? Even with high powered rifles they…"

"Had to have been well trained… and disciplined." Bridge concluded, peering around behind some nearby crates and kneeling down.

"So, are we talking about contract killers or something? Ex-military, maybe?" Melissa asked raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe," Bridge nodded, "But I was thinking more like the killers were actually SPD themselves."

Everyone looked curiously as Bridge rose to his feet holding a discarded battery pack used as an ammo clip for their laser rifles. "This pattern of weapon tech is one specific to SPD."

Z's face blanched as Bridge handed the new piece of evidence over to Officer Fisher. "Could be stolen SPD weapons... or do you think this raid was really carried out by a group of our own… by dirty cops?"

"Dunno yet." Bridge replied nonchalantly ambling up to a nearby wall. "I'll have to think about it for a little while."

Sergio watched as Bridge assumed his handstand "thinking position" and shot a questioning look to Z. The Yellow Ranger simply sighed, "Trust me, it's just better not to ask why."

Melissa crossed her arms in amusement as Bridge continued to stay in his handstand, oblivious to the talk around him. "Well Delgado, I'm not quite sure if your partner is a genius, or a nutcase."

"A little bit of both really." Z answered with a shrug. "I only wonder if Sky and Syd are having as much luck on their end."

* * *

 _ **New Tech City: SPD 4th Precinct Station**_  
 _ **15:30 hours**_

Sky and Syd made their way through the busy halls of the small uptown station as patrol officers and other precinct staff buzzed around them, busy at work.

"Well, this should be a breeze." Syd remarked bouncing on her heels, "You said you knew Marcus's CO?"

Sky nodded, "Yeah, Captain Richard Markhov was good friend of my dad and worked with him for a long time. I saw quite a bit of Captain Markhov when I was a kid and he'd always be telling me stories about catching the bad guys."

"I don't remember you ever mentioning him." Syd said curiously, "So did be become like a second father to you later on?"

"More like an involved uncle." Sky answered, "We still kept in touch, especially when he heard I entered the Academy."

The two Rangers navigated past several cubicles with detectives busily following up leads on the phone or searching databases, and stopped at a small office with the door already open. Sitting behind the desk was a late middle aged SPD officer busy going over paperwork. He was a tall man with a strong build, sharp features, and short salt and pepper hair: the model look of a senior police officer.

As Sky gave a knock, the older man looked up and gave a warm smile, gesturing the two inside "Schuyler Tate! What a surprise! It's good to see you again kiddo."

Sky grinned and shook the senior officer's hand firmly, "Good to see you again too, sir."

Gesturing to his partner, he said, "Captain, I'd like you to meet my teammate, and SPD's Pink Ranger, Sydney Drew."

"Pleased to meet you Officer Drew." Markhov smiled taking Syd's hand gallantly and giving a sidelong wink to Sky. "Please, have a seat."

As they all sat down, Markhov looked to Sky proudly, "I never did get a chance to congratulate you when I heard you were promoted as SPD's Red Ranger. I'm very proud of you too son."

Sky sheepishly shrugged and muttered his thanks while Syd held back an amused giggle. It wasn't very often she saw her friend so embarrassed and off balance, it was refreshing.

"So, what brings you two uptown?" the captain asked reclining back in his seat.

Sky cleared his throat and assumed his composed exterior again, "Well sir, I'm afraid we're here about Detective Marcus Bailey."

Markhov 's face darkened and he gave a slow nod, "Yes, an unfortunate incident. We were all very shaken up here when we heard. I'm also praying he comes back from his coma."

"Captain, do you know anything about the case Marcus was working on?" Syd asked, "We were going to visit him at the hospital, but we came to pick up his files first and see if we could track down his shooter."

Captain Markhov's brow furrowed and he shook his head, "I wish I could tell you. I'm afraid, I don't know much about his recent casework either. Marcus… well, he had been acting a little strange recently."

Sky narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean, strange?"

Markhov sighed, "Well, the last few months, Marcus had become a bit secretive, and unusually quiet… almost in a paranoid kind of way. He didn't talk very much about the progress of his casework to me, or to his fellow detectives. His reports just kept it to the bare minimums. Honestly, I had been getting a little worried about him."

"Do you think it was because of something he was working on?" Syd wondered aloud.

The captain simply shrugged, "We can only assume so."

Sky gave a pensive frown to himself before looking up again and producing a paper from his jacket, "Captain, Commander Cruger signed an order allowing us to take on Detective Bailey's papers. With your permission, I'd like to take a look at them."

"Yes, of course." Captain Markhov replied pointing them toward Marcus's desk and handing them a key to the drawers. "Please let me know if you find anything."

Sky and Syd went over to Marcus's work station and began to sort through his things. While Syd dug around in the file drawers, Sky sat at the computer and tried to pull up any recent records or emails their friend might have been working on.

"Hey Sky, unless I'm going crazy here, I'm not finding any recent files in the drawer." Syd said with a confused frown.

"Then you're not the only crazy one." Sky murmured in concern as he kept typing away at the workstation keyboard. "I'm not seeing any digital records on here either. What the hell is going on?"

"You don't think there's some foul play going on, do you?" Syd asked nervously looking to the Red Ranger.

Sky grimaced and rose from the desk, heading back toward the office. "I'd have a hard time believing it Syd. Captain Markhov is a sharp cop and wouldn't let something like this happen on his watch."

Upon telling Markhov what happened, the police captain's eyes grew wide with shock and he jumped from his chair. Hustling over to Detective Bailey's desk, he began to look through the drawers and computer himself while wearing a puzzled expression.

"I don't understand!" Markhov growled in frustration, "Where did the data go? Everyone knows tampering with SPD files is a serious offense!"

Syd crossed her arms, "Captain, do you know anyone else in the unit who would have had access to Marcus's records. Has anyone else been acting strangely?"

The captain sat back in the chair a minute, thinking, "No one that I know of. And no, I haven't noticed anything else strange in our unit. The only possible explanation for this is that Marcus must have deleted the files himself."

"Why would he do that?" Sky muttered darkly to himself. "That doesn't sound like something he would do."

"Maybe he was in trouble, and thought whatever it might be was too dangerous." Syd suggested.

Sky pondered her theory for a moment before turning back to Markhov, "I'm sorry for the trouble Captain. It seems like you've got an issue to deal with now, so we'll get out of your way."

The captain nodded with a grave look and rose to his feet. "I'm sorry we couldn't have met under better circumstances, son. I'll let you know if I find anything. In the mean time, please give Mrs. Bailey and Commander Cruger my regards."

Sky and Syd nodded and shook Markhov's hand before heading out of the station. As they headed back to the car, Sky sat for a long moment, staring at the steering wheel.

"Sky? You ok?" Syd asked, giving her teammate a sidelong glance.

"No." he said. "I'm just wondering what was so dangerous or troubling that Marcus might have violated SPD protocols to conceal."

Syd gave a sly smile, "Well, we were headed to the hospital next, right? Let's ask the wife if she knows anything."

Sky gave her a pensive nod before turning on the car and beginning the drive to the hospital.

* * *

 _ **New Tech City: Mercy Hospital**_  
 _ **17:10 hours**_

"Right this way Officers," the nurse said helpfully as she led Sky and Syd through the hospital's intensive care ward to their friend's room. As they passed a few doctors and hospital technicians, the two couldn't help but notice how sterile the place seemed and morbidly wondered how they would cope should they ever be injured badly in the line of duty. As they walked, Sky checked the text message on his phone and turned to Syd, "Bridge and Z are finishing up at the scene. They should be here in a little bit."

As the nurse opened the door to the suite, they were greeted by the sight of Marcus, their old classmate, laying in a bed. He wore an oxygen mask and looked to be hooked up to several machines to monitor his vital signs. While he was a handsome and athletic young man, the color of his skin was pale and he breathed weakly from the respirator. It was painful to see their old friend reduced to this, and they wondered how much more suffering was in store should he even recover. Sitting beside the wounded detective was his wife Abigail, a now haggard looking young woman. Her blonde hair was mussed and her eyes were tired and bloodshot from crying.

"Mrs. Bailey?" Sky began slowly, "I'm Sky Tate, and this is Sydney Drew. We're officers from SPD who were friends and classmates of Marcus. Is it ok if we come in?"

She nodded and gestured for them to sit.

Sydney put a comforting hand on Abigail's shoulder and gave a sympathetic look, "We're so sorry this happened. Several of us at the station who knew Marcus have been very upset since we heard the news."

"Thank you," Abigail nodded tiredly. "I'm sure he appreciates your coming to visit too." As Sydney continued to comfort her, Sky kept a sad gaze on Marcus before Mrs. Bailey turned to him slowly, "Are you two going to find out who did this to Marcus?"

"Yes," Sky answered solemnly, "But we're going to need your help. We need to find out about the case Marcus was working on before he was hurt. We heard he was acting a bit unusual these last couple months. Do you know anything about that?"

Abigail looked away evasively, "Marcus didn't say much, but he said he wasn't sure who to trust anymore. He said he found something, something very troubling and wasn't sure he could even trust Internal Affairs."

"Did he give any names?" Sky asked quickly, but Abigail shook her head, beginning to look more distraught.

"Mrs. Bailey," Syd said gently, "We are Marcus's friends, and Rangers of SPD. If there's anyone you can trust, it's us. We can't help him if you don't tell us anything."

After a long pause, Sky added, "When we checked Marcus's workstation and computer, we couldn't find anything. It looked as if his work had been deleted."

"More like tampered with." Abigail corrected him, "Marcus thought something like this could happen. That's why he backed up his work into a separate file."

Sky and Syd looked to each other in shock, then back to Abigail, "Do you have it? Do you know what's in it?" they both asked over each other.

"Yes… and no." she answered. I don't know what was in the file. Marcus wanted to protect me and know as little as possible. But he instructed me that should something happen to him, that I find someone from SPD who I could trust."

"We're going to need that file Mrs. Bailey." Sky said with a grave expression, "Please."

Abigail held his gaze for a long moment before looking down and giving a silent nod.

As she did, the door opened and two hospital janitors entered, pushing a cleaning cart. As they did, one picked up a wet mop. "Pardon us everyone. We need you all to step outside for just a few minutes. We need to clean up in here."

"It's still a little early to be doing rounds, don't you think?" Sky protested.

"I'm sorry Officer." the janitor answered patiently while shaking his head, "Hospital policy. Please, step outside?"

"Could you give us just a few more minutes, please?" Syd pleaded, "We just got here."

The two janitors glanced to each other and one stepped over to close the door. From the cart, the other janitor quickly pulled out a laser pistol and pointed it at the people in the room. Glaring at the startled SPD officers, the janitor growled, "The next person who makes a sound... dies."

* * *

 **To Be Continued...**


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N:  
Special thanks to all of you readers and reviewers for following along so far. You guys are awesome! I'm kinda surprised by the positive reception as we hit the midway point, so I'll do my best to keep things interesting and exciting for you all. Now, back to action... **_

* * *

_**New Tech City: Mercy Hospital**_  
 _ **17:38 hours**_

Everyone stood frozen as the janitor with the pistol kept his eyes on Sky and Syd. "I didn't want to have to do this, but you wanted it the hard way. Now, remove your guns and put them on the ground... slowly."

Abigail whimpered in fear as Syd turned to Sky with a questioning look. He nodded back and slowly removed his service pistol. "Ok, we'll do what you want. Just take it easy."

"Shut up!" the gunman snapped. "Don't tell me what to do either! Your weapon, now!"

Both Rangers took their time putting their weapons on the floor, knowing that Bridge and Z would be showing up any minute now.

"You three, get in the corner. Hurry up!" the criminal snarled waving his gun menacingly as the three walked to the corner of the room with their hands up. "We'll take care of you next. But first thing's first."

The gunman turned toward the helpless form of Marcus and raised his pistol. At that moment, Sky threw himself in front of Marcus and waved his arm, raising a force shield. As the gunman fired, the shots deflected off the force shield and scattered the lasers, making the janitors recoil in surprise. As he landed hard on the ground, Sky called out, "Syd! Now!"

Sydney threw herself forward into a somersault and grabbed her pistol from the floor in one motion. As she recovered from the roll, she trained her pistol on the surprised gunman and fired off two laser shots, hitting him in the leg and in the shoulder. With a cry, the gunman dropped his weapon and crumpled to the ground in agony.

Upon seeing his fellow assassin fall, the other janitor tore open the door and turned to flee, only to run into the startled faces of Bridge and Z. Before they could speak, the janitor shoved past them and took off running down the main hall of the ward as Sky shouted a warning to his friends. Z immediately pulled out her gun, but stopped, unable to get a good shot and fearing she would hit an innocent hospital worker.

Thinking quickly, Bridge punched a nearby intercom in the wall and shouted, "Code Blue on Floor 7! Patient in cardiac arrest! Send in the crash cart!"

As the criminal shoved his way past hospital workers toward the end of the hall, he sprinted toward the elevator to make his escape. As he neared, the elevator opened and an emergency team of hospital workers flew out with a large heavy crash cart full of medical equipment. To their horror, the emergency team collided with the criminal and sent him flying hard against the wall.

Z was immediately upon the stunned killer and handcuffed him quickly amid startled gasps from the rest of the hospital staff. "Crash cart indeed." she smiled to herself as she gave a thumbs up to Bridge.

The Blue Ranger looked over to where Sky and Syd had restrained the other gunman before reaching for his comm. "Dispatch, this is Officer Carson. We have an attempted murder at Mercy Hospital, 7th Floor. Threats have been neutralized. Requesting immediate backup, forthwith."

Moving into the hall to assist Z in restraining the downed killer, Bridge gave a deep sigh to himself. Things were about to get very interesting tonight.

* * *

 _ **SPD Headquarters**_  
 _ **21:50 hours**_

Commander Cruger stood with his hands behind his back as he watched from behind the dark one way glass of the interrogation room. Inside, Sky and Z sat with the "janitor" they had arrested at the hospital. Tilting his sharp ears, Cruger heard the sound of approaching footsteps and turned to see Bridge approach slowly. "Officer Carson, report."

Bridge stopped and gave a salute, "Sir, Sydney's just returned from Mrs. Bailey's house with Marcus's files. She and I were going to start going over them right now."

Cruger nodded in satisfaction, "Good. Hold off on that for now and start tomorrow. Your team has been patrolling since this morning and I want you all to get some rest first."

"Yes sir." Bridge answered reluctantly.

Giving the Blue Ranger a sympathetic look, Cruger continued, "I understand you all want to stop the people who hurt your friend, but you won't be much good to him if you're tired and sloppy."

"I'll let Syd know." Bridge nodded, "Uh, sir? About the Baileys..."

"I've ordered guard details to protect both of them." Cruger replied. "They should be safe now."

Bridge sighed in relief and took a glance into the interrogation room. Seeing Sky and Z pace around the room like hungry sharks, Bridge shook his head, "Man, I'd hate to be that poor bastard right now."

Inside the room, the arrested killer sat with a defiant look as Z sat across from him casually paging through the file. "Ok Mr. Paolo Rinaldi, let's try this again. Why were you and your friend Vito trying to kill Detective Bailey?"

"I'm not telling you anything!" Rinaldi laughed. "I'm not afraid of you cops."

"Well you should be." Sky said menacingly as Z handed him a paper. "Says here you're already a wanted man. There are 3 outstanding warrants on your head for armed robberies and assault. We're still gonna bring down the hammer on you for those ones too."

"Oh, I see how this is gonna work." Rinaldi smiled. "You two are going to play good cop, bad cop here?"

Z and Sky glanced at each other and exchanged a grin. "Oh, you've got it all wrong Mr. Rinaldi." Z said rising and walking near the prisoner threateningly. "We're both good cops, but neither of us are very nice ones."

"I thought so." Rinaldi chuckled, "You look like a girl who likes doing things rough."

Like lightning, Z grabbed Rinaldi from behind and violently slammed his head down on the desk while squeezing a pressure point on his neck. "You wanna see just how rough I can be?"she asked with a growl.

"Ok! Ok! I'm sorry!" Rinaldi howled as Z let up and Sky sat down calmly with the file.

"Paolo, I'm gonna make it really easy for you here." Sky said. "If you cooperate and tell us who hired you to kill Detective Bailey, we can probably reduce your charge on this count."

"You've got nothing on this count." Rinaldi sputtered, "Vito had the gun and was the one who fired. I didn't do anything."

"You're still an accomplice to an attempted murder of three officers." Z interrupted, "I don't think any judge or jury is going to look very favorably on that. Besides, how do you know your partner Vito wouldn't try to throw you under the bus instead when we interrogate him later?"

"You're screwed either way, so it's your choice." Sky said calmly, "It's just a matter of how screwed you want to be."

Rinaldi narrowed his eyes at the two for a long moment before nodding. "Yeah, ok. I was hired to kill Bailey. But if I talk, I'm going to need your promise I'll get protection."

Sky frowned, "That will depend. Who are you going to need protection from?"

"Someone within SPD." Rinaldi said lowering his voice and leaning closer. "You might even know him..."

* * *

 _ **SPD Headquarters: Command Room**_  
 _ **15:00 hours**_

The next afternoon, the four Rangers reconvened in Commander Cruger's office, all of them wearing troubled expressions. Cruger sat behind his desk and folded his hands calmly while giving a nod to Sky, "Go ahead Officer Tate. Report."

"Sir, Z and I interrogated Paolo Rinaldi last night. He confessed and told us that he and his partner Vito were hired to kill Detective Bailey. He claims they were hired by an SPD Lieutenant from the 2nd Precinct, Lt. Phillip Lee. The only other thing Rinaldi said was that Lee offered them a large amount of money to do it."

"Very troubling." Cruger mused, "however that claim won't hold much weight given the perp's criminal past."

"Maybe not sir," Syd chimed in. "But Bridge and I began going over Marcus's work and found a possible reason Lieutenant Lee would do something like that. He was connected to the Jackal Squad."

Everyone turned to look in confusion as Bridge continued, "Marcus had been investigating several past cases where small time drug dealers were killed and robbed. This claim was backed up by forensics officer Melissa Fisher. Nothing ever came of those cases and Marcus believed the incidents were just being swept under the rug, especially since several of them were happening in Lee's precinct. Detective Bailey believed a group of cops were getting a jump on the dealers, killing them and taking the drug money for themselves."

"Which means that the Red Moon gang massacre could be connected. Maybe even their big score." Cruger speculated.

Syd nodded, "When Marcus tried to track where Lee could get the training and weapons, Bailey was confused when he found the Lieutenant was connected to the Jackal Squad."

Z frowned in confusion, "Jackal Squad? I've never heard of them."

"That's because they don't exist anymore and aren't supposed to be known." Cruger answered with a grave expression. "Many years ago, a special independent task force called the Jackal Squad was created to root out internal corruption within SPD. The members were highly trained elite officers whose identities remained secret. When word caught on about their raids, their name inspired a lot of fear among corrupt and clean officers alike."

"What happened to them?" Sky asked curiously.

Cruger sighed, "After they completed their mission, the squad was disbanded. To our knowledge, it should still remain that way."

"Except Detective Bailey suspected that remnants of the Jackal Squad were getting back together and using their skills to profit on the side." Syd added. "That's when he believed the Jackals discovered he was investigating them and tried to have him killed."

"It is possible." Cruger admitted, "I know for a fact that Lieutenant Lee was a former member of the squad and was trained as a heavy weapons specialist."

"Even so," Sky interjected, "It doesn't explain how Marcus's data was tampered with. He was a cop from the fourth precinct while Lee was from the second."

Z gasped, "Unless there's a mole in the fourth too. Commander, do you know anyone there who was also a Jackal?"

Cruger gave an uncomfortable growl to himself before speaking, "Captain Richard Markhov was another founding member."

Sky's face turned white, "Wait! You can't be serious! Are you suggesting Captain Markhov is a dirty cop too?"

Sydney grimaced, "He did have access to Marcus's desk, and he did know we were headed to the hospital. Is it possible he had Lieutenant Lee call in the hit men for all of us?"

"At this point, we can't be certain of anything." Cruger replied authoritatively. "All we've got is a lot of speculation. For now, I want you all to try to find any recent records of communication between Markhov and Lee. I also want you to find out which officers or detectives were originally assigned to investigating the raids in question."

As the Rangers exchanged uneasy looks with each other, Cruger growled, "Like Detective Bailey, we can't be certain how far reaching the Jackals' corruption is. For the time being, all further knowledge of this case stays within this office only. Is that understood?"

"Perfectly clear sir." Sky reluctantly saluted, followed by the rest of his team. As they filed out of the command room, Sky parted from his team and told them he needed some air. He was feeling sick to his stomach with the thought that his old family friend, an officer he had looked up to and trusted for many years may be a ruthless criminal. It was bad enough losing his father to the job, but to lose an uncle figure to the very thing he was fighting against, was in some ways even worse.

As Sky walked to the front atrium of the building, he looked up to see dull light coming in through the tall rows of glass windows. The skies were beginning to darken with grey clouds, ironically mirroring everyone's present mood. At that moment, he didn't care. If he was going to go back to leading his team and stopping the rogue Jackal Squad, he just wanted a quiet place to breathe for now. He had a lot of thinking left to do.

* * *

 **To Be Continued...**


	4. Chapter 4

_**New Tech City: Emerald Square Garden**_  
 _ **07:20 hours**_

Schuyler Tate sat alone on the wooden park bench dressed in plain clothes as he watched the Sunday morning joggers and cyclists go by. Bright morning sunlight lit up the grounds while Sky pulled his jacket tighter to ward off the chilly air of early Spring. It had been three days since his team had begun prying further into the activities of the rogue officers from the mysterious Jackal Squad. He had hoped to try and enjoy his day off but the recreational book he brought remained closed beside him. No matter what he tried to do, his thoughts kept coming back to Captain Markhov and his possible betrayal.

While Sky normally prided himself on being right and having good police instincts, this was one case he prayed that he was wrong about. Although he knew it wasn't good to obsess over such things, he still felt a lingering fear and concern that if he didn't do something about this soon, one of his own Ranger friends, the people he was responsible for, might also end up like Marcus... or worse.

"Hey boss! Want some company?" His dark thoughts were momentarily swept away as he turned to hear a familiar voice. To Sky's surprise, Bridge and Syd approached down the walkway and sat down on both sides of him huddling in their own cold weather coats. Like him, they were also dressed in civilian clothes and enjoying their day off.

"Bridge! Syd! What are you two doing here?" Sky asked, making room on the bench.

Bridge shrugged, "Well, we were just in the neighborhood and thought..."

He was cut off by a pointed glare from Syd before she said, "We were both a little concerned about you... especially after what happened a few days ago."

"Well, I'm fine." Sky replied flatly. "I just needed a little space to think. Umm...speaking of which, any updates on the case?"

"You're obsessing again Sky." Syd pointed out with a sigh. "It's your day off, so leave work where it belongs... at work."

"I'm not..." Sky began, but stopped when he saw Bridge holding his hand near his face.

"Your aura says you're totally stressed out right now." the Blue Ranger interjected as Sky gave him an exasperated grumble.

Syd put a gentle hand on the Red Ranger's, "Listen Sky, I know you're worried about Marcus and where this investigation is going. Bridge and I are too. But you have to remember that he and I are still your friends and we worry about you. When you get all unnerved and broody, Bridge and I do too."

Sky looked to her a moment and nodded to his two closest friends. "Yeah, I guess you're right Syd... and I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time dealing with this right now. After what happened to Marcus, I can't help but worry about everyone else's safety on top of it, especially you two."

"Aww, I knew it. You really do love us." Bridge chuckled diffusing the situation by putting his arms around Sky in an exaggerated hug.

As Sky shoved his friend off, Syd grabbed Sky's hand and pulled him to his feet, "How about the three of us just put the worries aside for now and enjoy our day off, just like old times?"

Sky gave a nod and yelped in surprise as Sydney threw her arm around his and dragged him along from the park with Bridge in tow. "Great! Now come on! There's a new posh breakfast place that just opened up a few blocks from here. Both of you will love their crepes..."

"What? No toast?" Bridge called hurrying after them, "Hey Syd! Wait for me!"

* * *

 _ **SPD Headquarters: Command Room**_  
 _ **08:43 hours**_

That Monday morning, the Rangers assembled in front of Commander Cruger as Z stepped forward to give her updated progress report. "Over the weekend, I've managed to compile some records showing several direct calls between Captain Markhov and Lieutenant Lee. What the nature of those calls were, I can't say for certain. But the times correspond roughly to the dates those other drug pushers were killed... as well as our recent visit to the hospital."

"On top of that, we think we've traced the third member of the rogue cops, Commander." Bridge added. "Based on the names of former Jackal Squad members you gave us, I found that the officer assigned to track several of the drug deals and the Red Moons arms sale was the son of a retired Jackal. Looks to be some young detective by the name of Schneider"

"Good work Rangers," Cruger replied as Z and Bridge proudly exchanged a high five. "But I'm afraid that's still not going to be enough."

Sky crossed his arms and nodded, "Commander Cruger is right. All that evidence is still circumstantial. What we'll need to do is place our suspects at the scene of a crime."

"How do we do that?" Syd asked with a concerned face. "Wait until they try to kill someone again?"

Sky thought for a moment before turning to Cruger, "Commander, you might not be able to give us arrest warrants yet, but what if we wanted some search warrants instead?"

Cruger raised his eyebrow curiously, "What are you getting at Sky?"

Sky grinned, "Because we have reason to believe these three officers are linked to the crimes, I'm sure we can get limited warrants to place surveillance tracers on them and track their movements."

"An excellent suggestion Officer Tate." Cruger said with a grim smile. "I'll get right on that. In the mean time, I want each of you to be ready to move out and place the tracers once I give you clearance."

* * *

 _ **New Tech City: SPD 4th Precinct Station**_  
 _ **13:12 hours**_

Sky and Bridge took a cautious look around as they got out of their patrol car and made their way to the precinct staff parking lot. "Do you see Markhov's car yet?" Sky asked quietly as the two walked through rows of parked cars while trying to look innocuous. Beside him, Bridge held the small tracker device in his pocket while he scanned over the licence plates of the cars. At the end of the crowded lot, they finally came across a sleek silver colored luxury car matching Markhov's vehicle registration info.

"Bingo," Bridge smiled. "All I've got to do is get behind the wheel well and we're golden."

Before Bridge could speak again, the two officers were startled as they heard a voice call from behind, "Schuyler! You're back."

Both Rangers spun around in shock to see Captain Markhov walking toward them with a friendly smile, "This is a surprise. I wasn't expecting to see you back here again so soon."

"Oh... good afternoon sir." Sky began, trying to stall for time, "Before we get to that, I'd like you to meet another one of my teammates, Bridge Carson."

"How do you do?" the Captain said extending a hand to the Blue Ranger.

Bridge looked down and kept his right hand in his jacket pocket to cover the tracer. He reached out his left hand instead and awkwardly shook Markhov's. As the Captain gave a strange look to Bridge, Sky waved it off, "I'm sorry sir. Bridge hurt his hand last week and has been really babying it."

"I see," Markhov sighed, "Now, what brings you here?"

Bridge put on a cheerful grin, "Err...Mrs. Bailey asked if we could come back and pick up a few things from Marcus's desk. Personal affects, that sort of thing."

"Yes of course, but what are you doing out here?" Markhov asked in confusion. "And standing next to my car no less. I was just about to go to a meeting across town."

"Well, you see Captain," Sky answered slowly, "My friend Bridge here is a mechanic and a bit of a car nut. When we were passing by, he couldn't help but check it out."

Bridge stood for a long moment before catching on and nodding, "Right! Yes. I'm really sorry about that Captain."

Stepping over toward the rear wheel, he bent down and gave the tire a firm punch. "I can see you've kept this baby in good shape so I guess I couldn't write you a ticket either... umm, not that I would... because you technically outrank me and all..."

"He's right Captain," Sky said, drawing Markhov's attention away, "It is a really nice car. I only hope one day I can afford one just like that."

Markhov smiled with a wink, "Well, the force has been good to me lately kiddo. Just keep at it and you may get to drive around in a fancy car too one day. I'm sure your little blonde partner Sydney would love to ride with you even more then."

As Sky turned as red as the stripes on his uniform, Bridge took the momentary distraction to place the tracer on Markhov's car. Rising to his feet, Bridge put his hands together with a grin, "Well, we're sorry for any confusion Captain. It was nice to meet you again, and thank you for letting me ogle your car."

"Don't mention it son." Markov answered giving Bridge an odd look and then a nod to Sky before getting in his car. The two Rangers headed toward the police station doors and watched as Markhov drove off from the lot.

"Is the tracer working?" Sky asked the Blue Ranger in a hushed voice as they got back to their car.

Bridge pulled out a small device from his belt and checked it. "Like a charm. Should we head back to headquarters?"

"Yeah," Sky said with concern. "Let's hope the girls are having luck tagging their people too."

"Oh, yeah... about that." Bridge smiled impishly, "Markhov thinks you've got a little thing for Syd too, huh? I guess I'm not the only one."

Sky stopped a moment and glared at his best friend before starting the car. "Shut up and put on your seatbelt Carson." Bridge only laughed harder as he was thrown back into his seat and their car took off down the road back toward downtown.

* * *

 _ **SPD Headquarters: Briefing Room 3**_  
 _ **16:00 hours**_

That afternoon, the Rangers gathered in one of the base's briefing rooms to update Commander Cruger of their latest efforts. As he sat at the head of the table listening to Sky and Bridge first, Commander Cruger folded his hands into a steeple and smiled, "I'm glad you were able to tag Captain Markhov's vehicle. That was quick thinking you two. Well done."

Turning to Syd and Z, he asked, "Did you two have any luck with your trackers?"

Syd grinned devilishly as she gave a nod, "I pulled the old mistaken traffic stop routine on Lieutenant Lee on his off hours. He wasn't too happy when I said his tire was flat. He was so busy being annoyed, he never even noticed me bug his car."

Cruger gave a small chuckle and turned to Z, "How about you Delgado? Did you manage to tag Detective Schneider?"

Z laughed and held up a coffee cup, "Yes sir. I even got a free coffee out of it."

Cruger raised his brow quizzically as she explained, "I went undercover and asked him out on a coffee date. When he came to give me lift, I stuck a tracker in the vehicle side panel while he was bragging all about his job."

"Woah, Z actually has some feminine charms?" Sky smirked sarcastically to Bridge.

"There might be hope for her yet." Bridge replied elbowing the Red Ranger back.

Z frowned and kicked both their shins from under the table as Cruger cleared his throat to restore order at the table.

Looking over the Rangers, the Commander's face turned more serious. "Now that we have trackers on, it's time for us to lure in the Jackals."

"Uh, how do you plan on doing that, sir?" Bridge asked timidly.

"How else do you make a dog come to you?" Cruger asked, "You throw him a bone."

Everyone at the table sat staring at him in silence, unsure whether the Commander was really serious, or just making a very bad dog pun.

Cruger sighed in exasperation, "What I meant, was that we're going to entice the Jackals with another big black market deal."

Gesturing to the door of the room, Cruger waved another figure in and the Rangers turned to see Sergio Torres enter with a big smile. "Our informant Sergio here has volunteered to send a phony tip to Detective Schneider. It's our hope that he'll call the other Jackals out for another raid. With that, we'll have records of the calls as well as tracking evidence that they all came together to the same spot. When the Jackals come, we spring our trap."

Sergio continued, "The Jackals don't know that I'm working for SPD, so I'm sure they'll at least be curious and greedy enough to take the bait."

The Rangers exchanged looks and began to smile. For once, it looked like they were going to be able to jump one step ahead of their enemies in this investigation. Cruger slowly rose and began to make his way out of the conference room, "Mr. Torres has some experience with the arranging of these criminal meetings, so I'll leave you all to come up with a strategy. I'd like to see your proposed plan on my desk first thing tomorrow morning."

The Rangers saluted as Cruger exited and while the others began to speak to Sergio, Sky felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He recognized the number as one from Mercy Hospital and answered it. "Hello?"

The chatter of the other Rangers died away as they all turned to look at the Red Ranger, his expression becoming very stone faced and dark. "I… don't know what to say. Where is she? Is she going to be ok? I understand doctor. Thank you for letting me know."

Sky hung up and slowly looked up at the concerned faces of his fellow Rangers. "That was the hospital. There have been post op complications... Marcus Bailey just died."

 _ **To Be Continued...**_

* * *

 **A/N:  
Yep, just when you thought this was going to be a lighter "breather" chapter. Now the Rangers will be out for blood. **

**Hopefully, the last two chapters should be ready to go in a few days and I'll post them together, so stay tuned.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Note: The last two chapters have been combined into one finale. Enjoy.**_

* * *

 _ **SPD Headquarters: Dispatch Garage**_  
 _ **18:13 hours**_

Blood red rays of the setting sun filtered in to the base's main garage as twilight began setting in over New Tech City. Several black colored vans rolled up to the edge of the pavement as the Rangers slowly made their way toward the loading area, preparing to conduct their raid on the traitorous Jackal Squad. Each Ranger wore assorted articles of standard tactical gear as well as light body armor vests suited to protect them from energy weapons.

As they walked, Z Delgado gave uneasy glances to her three friends and fellow Rangers who walked beside her. They were deathly quiet and wore blank serious faces, making her uncertain whether they were feeling more anger or sadness at the moment. The three had spoken very little since they had heard about the death of their old classmate yesterday. Still, they were officers of the law with a job to do first and Z was certain that her fellow Rangers would be out for blood tonight. Even happy-go-lucky Bridge had refrained from giving his usual rambling opinions or eccentric observations… and she suddenly found that surprisingly unsettling.

Ahead of the Rangers, the informant Sergio as well as several other SPD patrolmen armed with swat weapons and armor stood gathered around the vans, patiently waiting for them. As the Rangers approached, the patrolman who appeared to be leading the others barked an order and the patrolmen snapped to attention with a crisp salute. Turning to Sky he said, "The raid team is all yours sir."

Sky studied the peculiar patrolman and noticed he was wearing a full swat mask to conceal his face. Doing a quick headcount of the other patrolmen and recognizing their faces, Sky turned to the team leader. "This is Sergeant Rios's squad. Where is he?"

"The sergeant is attending to another matter tonight sir," the masked patrolman answered handing the Red Ranger a slip of paper, "I was reassigned to take his place for this raid, Commander Cruger's orders."

Sky suspiciously glanced up from the assignment papers, "Just who are you, patrolman?"

To the other Rangers' shock, the patrolman removed his mask, revealing the grinning face of Jack Landors, former Red Ranger of SPD.

Before the others could speak, Jack slowly gave a salute to Sky, "I'm sorry to hear about your friend from the Academy. Commander Cruger contacted me and said you all might want a little extra help tonight… so with your permission, I'd like to assist you by leading the patrolmen… sir."

Sky returned the salute and gave a small smile. "Thank you Jack. It's good to have you with us again."

With the momentary boost in morale, the other Rangers nodded in approval as they were reunited once more. Looking over the team, Sky gave a wave toward the vans. "Alright! Let's get moving people! There are cop killers out there and we don't have all night! Let's go! Let's go!"

* * *

 _ **New Tech City: Industrial District, Derelict Steel Factory**_  
 _ **21:43 hours**_

Sergio Torres paced nervously as he waited near the loading docks of the old derelict steel factory. Despite the handful of portable lights and lanterns that were set up, the oppressive darkness of the old building clung to the edges of the light, obscuring the sight of any approaching beings. A strange feeling of deva ju came over the brave informant as he waited for the Jackal Squad to appear. This time, he was the one looking over several large cases, posing as an illegal drug runner. Nearby, two other men stood waiting with their arms crossed, looking every bit the part of hired muscle.

Before he could sit down on a case of "drugs" to relax, the familiar voice of Jack Landors crackled over the small comm bead in his ear. "Sergio, the Jackals have arrived. They should be on you in less than a minute."

"Roger that." Sergio replied quietly, "Officer Tate?"

Sky's voice answered next over the communicator. "We're here Sergio. Just sit tight. Stay calm and play along with them. Once the Jackals are in position, we'll take them down."

Sergio nodded quietly and turned to look as three shadowy figures materialized from the gloom. Just like from the warehouse, the three wore grey SPD uniforms and tactical gear along with combat masks to conceal their faces. Each Jackal carried high powered laser weapons and gear from their belt.

"Who's there?" Sergio called out, but his question was answered by the sound of a warning shot from the lead Jackal's weapon.

"SPD," The Jackal said training his weapon on Sergio. "You gonna answer my questions and come quietly?"

"Ok… ok…" Sergio gasped raising his arms slowly, "Don't shoot man. I'll talk. I'll talk. What do you need to know?"

The Jackal snorted in amusement and looked over toward the crates, "Smart kid. Where are these drugs headed, and where are the buyers?"

"Look officer, I'm just a middle man here," Sergio said. "I was told to bring these crates and exchange it with some dealer who just calls himself Jack. I don't know where he is. That's all I know man. I swear!"

"Shut up. Get on the ground you scum." The lead Jackal snarled gesturing with his weapon for Sergio and his 2 bodyguards to step aside and kneel on the ground.

One of the other Jackals turned to the leader and said, "Boss if the buyer didn't show, there's no money here."

The lead Jackal thought a moment before shrugging, "We'll take the drugs and sell them off through our other channels. You two, go get the crates."

As the two other Jackals hurried over and began handling the cases, they stopped when they noticed how light they were. The second Jackal turned his gun on one of the cases and shot off the lock revealing an empty container. "Boss, there's nothing here."

The lead Jackal furiously spun around on Sergio and leveled his rifle, "What the hell is this?"

"The end of the Jackal Squad." A voice rang out from the surrounding darkness. The Jackal turned to the voice as Sky stepped out from the shadows slowly. The other Jackals raised their weapons but a host of red laser sights suddenly lit up from the darkness and trained their aim on the rogue SPD officers.

"You can remove the mask Markhov. I know it's you." Sky said sternly. "Same with you Lieutenant Lee and Detective Schneider."

The lead Jackal slowly reached up and removed his mask, revealing the smiling face of Captain Markhov. Nearby the other Jackals removed their own masks. "I'm impressed Schuyler. Well done." Markhov said "But no formal address? No Captain?"

"You've disgraced the SPD uniform." Sky answered coldly with a pained edge in his voice, "and you're a cop killer on top of that. To me, you're below scum now."

Markhov remained nonplussed as the three other Rangers stepped up to flank Sky with their pistols drawn.

"Are you going to answer our questions and come quietly?" the Red Ranger called out mocking the words of the Jackals' leader.

Markhov chuckled softly to himself and nodded to his two accomplices, "You forget Officer, that we have Troobian weapons now, so… you can see that we've come prepared for something like this."

In an instant the three Jackals dropped small metal containers on the ground that broke apart and erupted into a horde of Troobian Krybots. In an instant, the Krybots advanced and opened fire on the startled cops with their laser weapons.

Nearby Jack Landors rose from cover and gave an encouraging shout to the startled SPD patrolmen. "Stand your ground! Return fire!" As the SPD raid teams began exchanging volleys of laser fire with the Krybots, the Jackals moved to escape amid the chaos. Turning to Sky, Jack shouted, "Collar those Jackals, Sky! We'll keep the tin-heads off of you!"

Amid the chaotic laser fire that suddenly lit up the factory, Sky nodded and gathered his Rangers together as they drew their Delta Morphers from their belts. In unison, the four officers disappeared in a radiant flash and gave a shout, "SPD, Emergency!"

* * *

Detective Schneider scurried through the darkened corridors of the old factory trying escape the pursuing Rangers. As he paused a moment to catch his breath, a powerful laser shot struck some panels over his head, sending a rain of sparks down on him as he ducked behind some old rusty equipment. In the brief flash of light, he could see the forms of the Blue and Pink Ranger closing in on him in a flanking maneuver.

The young man gave a panicked growl and fired off a spray of lasers from his rifle into the darkness. As he heard the Rangers' footsteps nearing him, Schneider dropped the last of his Krybot containers and hopped on a low metallic platform to make a run for it. The Blue and Pink Rangers erupted from the darkness as a handful of Krybots barred their path.

"I'll take the Krybots. You get Schneider." Syd called drawing her baton and charging into the enemy troops. Bridge watched as Syd gracefully wove through the Krybots, quickly cutting them down all while flipping over and sidestepping their attacks. Turning his attention to the fleeing form of Schneider, Bridge looked to the metal platform the Jackal was running on and then to a nearby control panel. The Blue Ranger punched a few buttons on the console and heard Schneider cry out in surprise as gears began to turn and the Jackal fell over on his face. Too late, the stunned Schneider realized he had been running on a conveyer belt and was now being pulled back toward the Rangers.

The Pink Ranger turned in surprise as several shots from Bridge's D-Striker took out the last of the Krybots around her. "Bridge! What are you still doing here?" she cried in surprise. "You were supposed to catch…"

She stopped short as the stunned form of Schneider rolled right back to them on the conveyer belt and Bridge put pair of cuffs on the rogue Detective. "You're welcome." the Blue Ranger chuckled making light of the situation as Sydney put her hands on her hips and shook her head.

* * *

Meanwhile in another section of the factory, Z and Lieutenant Lee were locked in a fierce gunfight. Lee squeezed off a volley of automatic fire as Z took momentary cover behind some heavy machinery. The Yellow Ranger had called on her SWAT weapons and rose from her spot to return fire with her own heavy laser rifle.

Lee ducked his head behind a console as Z's shots went wide and tore through some metal gratings nearby the Jackal. She waited several moments for signs of movement but was more surprised when she heard creaking sounds from above. To the Yellow Ranger's shock, Lee had activated a large steel press and had it come down on her. With superhuman speed, Z threw herself clear and tumbled away as Lee took off running again.

Taking aim with her rifle, Z turned her gun toward a row of pipes just ahead of the fleeing Jackal. "Nice try dirtbag," she smirked firing off a shot that struck the pipes and caused an erupting cloud of steam to spray on Lieutenant Lee.

The stunned Jackal halted and staggered before falling over backwards and flailing on the ground. Using the enhanced helmet sensors of her SWAT gear to see through the pipe's smoke, Z rushed over and subdued Lee with a smile. "You're not going anywhere Lieutenant."

* * *

Amid the darkest recesses of the abandoned factory, Sky raced through rows of old equipment and large steel bars while pursuing the leader of the Jackal Squad. As the Red Ranger wove through the obstacles, he was harassed by volleys of automatic laser fire from Markhov's rifle. Returning fire with his D Magnum and ducking behind a narrow row of steel pylons, Sky heard Markhov laughing. "You're good kiddo, but you're never going to catch me."

A few seconds passed and Sky heard the clinking sounds of two metallic objects rolling near him. Diving for cover, he got clear of the first fragmentation grenade, then looked up as a Troobian sphere opened up releasing a handful of Krybots. On the other side of the pylons, Markhov took off running for a nearby stairwell. With a growl, Sky rushed through the squad of Krybots using the brute force method. Despite the narrow space of the steel pylons, the Red Ranger swept his foes aside, smashing the Krybots with brutal punches or shooting them point blank with his pistol. As the last Krybot fell to Sky's wrath, the Red Ranger charged past and scrambled up the stairwell after Markhov.

As he reached the top, Sky found himself on a second floor catwalk and sprinted down the platform after the Jackal. Turning around, the Jackal unloaded his rifle on full auto but the Red Ranger dove forward into a baseball slide and fired back a hail of shots with his own laser pistol. Sky's shots hit Markhov's rifle and destroyed it as the last shot struck the Jackal in the shoulder.

Markhov grunted in pain and spun sideways from the powerful force of the shot. To Sky's horror, the Jackal lurched off the side of the catwalk, but stopped himself as he grabbed on to a rung with his good arm. The Red Ranger rose to his feet and looked down over Richard Markhov as he hung precariously over a large steel crucible used for melting iron.

"Schuyler! Help! Please… save me!" Markhov begged, fear and panic beginning to show in his eyes. Sky continued to stare down on him in silence before pointing his pistol down on Markhov's face.

"Sky! Have mercy! Please!" Markhov cried trying to tighten his grip on the platform.

"After all the people you murdered in cold blood, and you have the nerve to ask for mercy?" Sky shouted back angrily "Like the kind you showed those criminals and drug dealers? Like the kind you showed for Detective Bailey? He was my friend and a fellow officer! He was one of us!"

Markhov grimaced and beads of sweat began to form at his brow. To the Jackal's surprise, Sky grabbed him and hauled him up to the platform, dumping him hard on his face. Demorphing, Sky took his pistol and pressed it threateningly to Markhov's chin while he pinned the older man down, "Was it you Captain? Were you the one who shot Bailey? Answer me!"

Markhov tightened his lip, then gave a small nod.

"Why, Markhov?" Sky asked, "Why did you and the Jackal Squad do this?"

The Jackal grunted in pain from the wound in his shoulder, "SPD thought we were obsolete… thought we were relics of the past that they could just disband at their pleasure and force into thankless retirement… sitting behind a desk and babysitting a brainless generation of new wannabe cops. We wanted to show them they were wrong."

Sky put his gun away, "Well, a bunch of us young brainless wannabe cops just outsmarted and outfought you."

"Always so self righteous… just like your father." Markhov sneered softly. Sky sighed and cuffed the Jackal saying somberly, "Richard Markhov, I'm placing you under arrest for multiple counts of murder, theft, coercion, and obstruction of justice."

At that moment, Sky was joined by Jack and the rest of the Rangers who had come to assist. They stood waiting at the other end of the platform as Sky finished with his arrest.

Markhov answered defiantly, "Don't bother reading me my rights son. I already know them."

To his surprise, Sky swiftly rolled Markhov over and banged the Jackal's head hard against the metal floor of the catwalk. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law… and I really hope you keep talking, jackass."

Roughly hauling the Jackal up to his feet, Sky started to walk him back toward the other Rangers, while continuing to read the criminal his rights, "You have a right to an attorney..."

* * *

 _ **New Tech City Limits: Rosewood Cemetery**_  
 _ **14:30 hours**_

Grey afternoon clouds hung over rows of gravestones as the Rangers stood assembled near the grave of Detective Marcus Bailey. Aside from Jack, the Rangers all wore their dark dress uniforms and stood together with somber faces. The funeral services had ended and a large crowd of mourners and fellow officers of SPD had begun to disperse leaving some space for the Rangers along with Commander Cruger and a grieving Mrs. Bailey.

The widowed Mrs. Bailey knelt down on the soft green grass near the grave to arrange some of the flowers as Commander Cruger grimaced. "It was a beautiful service Mrs. Bailey. Again, I'm very sorry for your loss. Marcus was a good officer and will be truly missed."

Abigail Bailey turned to him and gave an exhausted nod. "Thank you Commander Cruger, and thank you to your Rangers. At the very least, they've brought Marcus and I a measure of justice by catching his killers."

After a pause, she sniffed, "If you don't mind, I'd like a moment alone with Marcus now."

"Of course." Cruger nodded turning to walk back toward the Rangers. While Jack and Z quietly stood off to the side talking with each other, Cruger glanced over to see Sky, Bridge, and Syd huddled together. They had their arms over each other and Cruger was struck again by how close the three Rangers had become over the years. Under his watch, they had been classmates through Academy, and later teammates, but through it all, they had always been friends.

Seeing Cruger look his way, Sky gently moved his shoulder where Sydney had been crying into it and handed her off to Bridge. Stepping aside for a moment, the Red Ranger walked forward to address the Commander.

"Sir, that was a beautiful speech you gave earlier at the funeral." Sky said quietly.

"Thank you, though you'll forgive me if I say I hate giving those kind of speeches." Cruger replied graciously downplaying the compliment. After a pause, he continued, "I couldn't help but notice you with Bridge and Sydney and be reminded how close you three are. I'm guessing losing your old classmate drove home the value of the bond between you all."

"Yes sir." Sky answered with a simple nod. "In a manner of speaking."

Cruger looked again to the Red Ranger's face and asked, "I'm sure having to put away Captain Markhov was difficult for you too... losing another trusted figure from your youth."

"Yes, it has..." Sky replied, "though, that's not the only thing that's been bothering me today."

Cruger kept a steady gaze as Sky continued, "I couldn't help but think about something Markhov had said... about the Jackals resenting the thought that they were obsolete. With the threat of Emperor Grumm gone, I've begun to wonder if that may ever happen to us Rangers too. I mean, we had already seen A Squad turn on SPD."

Cruger shook his head, "There will always be a need for Power Rangers, and you will not go the same route as the Jackals, or the A Squad. You are a police officer Sky, and a fine one at that. Your first directive is to always do whatever is in the best interest of serving and protecting the public... whether that means being a Ranger or not. Remember that."

"Thank you sir." Sky said as Commander Cruger put a hand on his shoulder.

Gesturing over to the other Rangers, Cruger said, "B Squad is hurting right now Officer Tate. Their leader should be with them right now."

"Yes sir. I understand." Sky saluted as Cruger parted ways and began to walk off amongst the headstones toward the parking lot. Sky took one last glance toward Mrs. Bailey, before turning back to rejoin his team.

Cruger was right. The Rangers of SPD weren't going to go the way of A Squad or the Jackals. The bonds and hearts of their team had been forged through the fiery crucible of battle and the struggle to uphold the law, no matter how difficult or painful. They had gotten through the trials of the Troobian attacks and they would get through this tragedy too.

As Sky began walking back toward his friends, he said a quiet prayer to his fallen comrade as the words from Commander Cruger's eulogy echoed in his ears.

"It's always difficult to lose a fellow officer and a beloved friend. Why them and not me? As police officers, we often have to ask ourselves that. I have as well. Eventually, we come to realize that there aren't always clear cut answers... and there is nothing that we the living can do about that. All that we can hope to do though, is to continue doing our duty... to honor those that have fallen, to remember them, and in the case of Marcus Bailey, recommit ourselves to the cause for which he gave his life... the hope and the promise of peace and justice for all those that he held dear."

It can be honorably noted that the the Rangers of SPD's B Squad, never once let their commitment to that very cause ever fade or falter in all the years of their service, as well as those that carried on after them.

The End

* * *

 **A/N:**  
 **I know, kind of a bittersweet ending... but given the tone, a good one I think. As always, many thanks to any and all readers or reviewers who have followed along this far. It was definitely a new and interesting experience trying to write a police procedural type story. If you're so inclined, feel free to leave any reviews or comments as well. I'd love to hear from you all!**


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